On April 16-17, SEMI Americas and its
Washington, D.C. office hosted the annual Washington Forum event which brings
SEMI industry executives to Washington for two days of meetings, events, and
speakers to share the latest public policy priorities with government officials
inside the beltway. This year 23 SEMI-member
executives and other participants took part the event which came just as the
weather was warming up in D.C., along with talk of big, bipartisan
compromises. With such a strong turnout,
the participants were divided into four different teams to cover a wide variety
of policy interests including, high-skilled immigration reform, intellectual
property, solar PV, and federal R&D investments in a total of over two
dozen meetings.

With immigration reform being a hot topic in
Washington these days, SEMI was pleased to put together a team to meet with
some of the key players in the current immigration debate from both sides of
the aisle. With the cap of H-1B visas
met the first week they were issued this year, the team brought the concerns of
the semiconductor equipment and materials to these policymakers in a timely
fashion. Meetings included the offices
of House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Senate “Gang of 8” member,
Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Silicon Valley Representative and leading immigration
reform advocate Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). In each of these meetings, the team
stressed the need to include high-skilled immigration reform in any attempt to
move a larger and more comprehensive immigration reform package. These requests included raising the cap on
the number of H-1B visas that are issued every year as well as creating a
separate and automatic category of Greencards for those who graduate from U.S.
institutions with a Ph.D. or Master’s degree in a STEM field.

The challenges that are faced by the solar
industry are well known. Because of
these challenges, it is as important as ever policymakers have a clear
understanding of the current issues being faced by that industry. So as part of the Washington Forum, a
dedicated team of solar industry experts, including participants from Applied
Materials, DuPont, and TEL Solar met with a wide range of policymakers on
Capitol Hill and at the Department of Energy (DoE). Educating legislators as to the current state
of the trade unrest in the solar industry was a top priority, including sharing
the SEMI PV Global Trade White Paper (www.semi.org/en/node/44991). In addition, the group shared the industry’s
desire to see government action to substantial legislation to empower the free
market to invest in solar. A key piece
of legislation to do this is S. 795, the Master and Limited Partnership Parity
Act, which will allow solar and other renewable energy projects to be treated
the same as oil and gas for the purposes of structured tax investments. S. 795 in authored by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
and has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, and is formally endorsed
by SEMI. The team also advocated for protection of the 30 percent Advanced
Energy Invest Tax Credit (ITC), which is scheduled to expire in 2016, and for
strong funding for programs at the DoE.

Like with the DoE, cuts to federal funding
programs are a concern to SEMI, and was the reason that strong federal funding
was a part of the message being delivered as part of the Washington Forum. The “sequester” has reduced the federal
government’s investment in research and development by almost 7 percent. SEMI is seeking to reverse these cuts and
keep our federal funding on pace to be competitive with the rest of the
world. In addition, the Washington Forum
gave members a chance talk to policymakers about the potential authorization of
the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). This program that has been championed by
President Obama would establish up to 15 Institutes for Manufacturing
Innovation (IMI) around the country to bring focus on certain industries to
allow them to collaborate in a public private partnership to move innovation
for manufacturing forward. SEMI supports
the NNMI and views the centers as an ideal way for the industry to be able to
work in a collaborative way to solve difficult, industry-wide problems.

Intellectual Property is key driver for SEMI
members, with the average annual investment for our companies being about 15
percent of revenue. Because of this, and
with the government’s increased interest in this area, the fourth Washington
Forum Team concentrated on bringing more awareness of the challenges our
industry faces to government officials.
The team met with Acting Director of the US Patent & Trademark
Office, Theresa Rea, and her staff, to discuss how we could work more closely
with the federal government. The team
also met with the Staff Director for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on
Intellectual Property, to discuss the latest legislative proposals in Congress.
In addition, the team was able to meet with the International Trade
Administration, who handles complaints from companies who have faced IP theft
overseas. The team was also able to sit
down for an extended meeting with the “IP Czar” for the federal government,
Victoria Espinel, who is responsible for coordinating all government IP-related
activity.

In addition to all of the meetings held by
the teams, they were also addressed for a keynote speech by Rep. Chris Gibson
(R-NY-19). Rep. Gibson sits on the House
Armed Services Committee, and his been a major proponent for the semiconductor
industry since being elected in 2010.
The congressman addressed many issues important to SEMI members
including competitiveness, innovation, federal R&D funding, and energy
issues. His speech focused on how we
need to work together to accomplish our goals and bring more prosperity back to
the United States.

The SEMI Washington Forum is an annual event
hosted by the North American Advisory Board, and brings SEMI-members executives
to Washington to give them a firsthand experience with addressing
policymakers. It also gives our elected
officials a chance to hear straight from their constituents, and learn more
about our important industry. If you
would like to learn more about the Washington Forum and how someone from your
organization can participate in the future, please contact Jamie Girard, senior
director, Americas Public Policy, at jgirard@semi.org, or by phone at
202-393-5552.